In process of buying a house need some help!

[Vetlol]

I am in the process of buying a house. It was built in 2005 and it turned up a couple if issues in the engineers report. Basically nothing structural it just seems the current owners architect/engineer was a bit slack on keeping up to date with filing all the Certificates with the council and there are a couple of minor things that don't meet building standards, no wheelchair access, mechanical ventilation in bathroom etc. my main two problems are there seems to be no certificate signing off the installation for the sewage system, although the owner says the architect was there on the day!, and it's a timber framed house and the lower vents on one side of the house have been covered by a patio. This obviously would need to be rectified. Our engineer says unfortunately this is common with "Celtic tiger" houses and although there are things that need to be addressed he can't see any reason not to go ahead with the purchase.

My question is should I be concerned about all these issues. Having never bought a house before I have no idea whats normal and what's not. I'm just anxious that we will buy the house and it will turn out to be like the house from the film the money pit!! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ryaner]

It'll be safe to proceed but assuming you are getting a mortgage, you won't be able to complete until the certs are in place. The longer it goes on, the more the vendors are likely to try transfer the costs over to you.

 

[Bronte]

Basically nothing structural

it just seems the current owners architect/engineer was a bit slack on keeping up to date with filing all the Certificates with the council and there are a couple of minor things that don't meet building standards, .

Personally if there's nothing structural I wouldn't have a problem with the house.

But if it's a council issue, ie planning or building requirements, then you can be sure your solicitor and your bank will have issues with it. Your engineer might say it's minor, but until the council have cleared it I wouldn't say it's minor, time to have a chat with your solicitor who can probably tell you what is a minor issue.

 

[Tired Paul]

Having being in a similar position earlier this year, use these issues as leverage to see if you can get a better deal.
There was no vent in one of the bathrooms of our new house and we asked the seller to get one installed or take the price off the asking price. There was also issues with retention planning permission for a rear extension. This delayed the whole process by a few weeks but we used this to our advantage and the seller reduced the price once we assured them we were genuine about the property.
Other than that I'd have no serious issues with a house as long the structure is sound.